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Memoir of Bryan Morrison, early Pink Floyd manager, coming in September 2019

Written by Matt

Saturday, 11 May 2019

When the music impresario Bryan Morrison died aged 66 in 2008, after two years in a coma following a polo accident at The Royal Berkshire Polo Club of which he was a founder, he left behind his unpublished memoir. As a music publisher, manager and agent, Morrison had represented the Pretty Things, Pink Floyd, Elton John, the Bee Gees, T. Rex, The Jam, Wham! and many others. He was also the founder and owner of the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club.

In the sixties, he formed the Bryan Morrison Agency, a management and booking agency, who looked after Floyd (amongst others) in their early days, taking over the management of the band from Blackhill Enterprises in 1968. The late Steve O'Rourke and Tony Howard were also part of the team.

In this candid and outspoken book, titled Have a Cigar!, which he was looking to publish before his untimely death, Morrison reveals the true stories behind why Syd Barrett once bit his finger to the bone, the Pretty Things were banned for life from New Zealand, and he became involved with the Kray Twins. He also tells how The Jam kissed goodbye to success in the USA, he received death threats when Robin Gibb left the Bee Gees, and signed a publishing deal with George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley as Wham! Spanning the golden age of British rock ’n’ roll from the 60s to the 80s, this is the extraordinary story of a cigar-chomping, East End entrepreneur, with a passion for art and design, fashion, music and polo. Have a Cigar! will be published by Quiller in September 2019.

Andrew Johnston, Managing Director of Quiller, says: I am delighted to have secured this fascinating and revealing autobiography by Bryan Morrison which captures the atmosphere and excitement of the early days of the UK music industry, covering his discovery of Pink Floyd in Soho to the signing of many classic bands, via mixing with the Krays and the high life in London at that time.

Ordering links: This book promises to have many fascinating insights into the early days of the Floyd, together with the other artists that Morrison was involved with. To add this to your Floydian bookshelves, please use these direct links to help support the running of Brain Damage: Amazon UK, Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon France, Amazon Germany, Amazon Spain and Amazon Italy. Not all the ordering pages are live, but should be very shortly. Also, Amazon ships books worldwide so if you are not in one of the locations listing Have a Cigar for order, please try another 'branch' of Amazon.